Description and Brand Names

US Brand Name

Promacta

Descriptions

Eltrombopag is used to treat thrombocytopenia (low platelets in the blood) in adults and children 6 years of age and older with a blood disorder called chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). This medicine is used after a splenectomy (surgery to remove the spleen) and other medicines, such as steroids or immunoglobulin, have not worked well enough. Eltrombopag is also used to treat thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic hepatitis C along with interferon therapy. Platelets help clot the blood, so a person with thrombocytopenia may have bleeding problems. Eltrombopag works by stimulating the bone marrow to produce more platelets.

Eltrombopag is also used to treat severe aplastic anemia (SAA) in patients who have received other medicines to treat SAA, when those medications did not work well.